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Mr. Hayzlett, drawing on his years in the C-Suite as the former CMO of Eastman Kodak, says that people don’t do their homework when selling to C-level executives. “Why would I want to have coffee? For what purpose?”

Know your Audience/Do Your Homework

“It’s obvious in the first five minutes if a vendor is unprepared, Hayzlett discloses. “ I can hear it in the chitchat. Don’t talk about the weather or traffic. Don’t waste my time.”

Preparation includes presentation materials. Hayzlett recalled a company who was selling marketing services and affixed the wrong logo to the sales document. The sale was over before it began.

“Vendors come in with what questions do you have for my answers,” explains Hayzlett. “Instead, provide value by solving pain points”.

Seek the Right Level

Don’t assume that everything happens at the CEO Level. The first question to ask is ‘are you addressing the right level?’ If you’re a printer, for example, that service will most likely be handled further down the food chain.

“Vendors think the CEO will open the door for them,” states Wayne Pisano, CEO of Vaxxinate, a biotech company. “I won’t undermine roles and responsibilities of my direct reports. That’s not how I operate.”

According to Pisano, building an exclusive relationship with the CEO can be a limiting strategy given the short tenure of many CEOs.

Get to the Point

A major complaint from the C-Suite is the inability to get to the point.

“What decision do you want from me,” asks Mr. Pisano. “It takes too long to get that. They present all the options and don’t make a recommendation and throw the monkey on my back. What do you want me to know? “

Take the case of the VP of Tax and Compliance for a U.S. Fortune 1000 company. His job was in jeopardy because he waffled on every recommendation to the President. After much coaching, the VP learned to put a stake in the ground and make a clear recommendation. The end result is that he learned to communicate to the C-Suite and he kept his job.

Hayzlett concurs. “Brevity is more respected than anything else. Use the Moses Rule-two slides, five bullets each. If you can’t tell me in two slides, I don’t get it. What’s the solution? What’s the opportunity? Show me the way. Present the value of what you can do.”

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